Shares in the sports betting company SharpLink Gaming closed Tuesday trading at a 7% gain after the firm boosted its Ether holdings by another $30 million.

SharpLink said on Tuesday that it purchased 12,207 Ether (ETH) at an average price of $2,513 each during the week ended Friday, June 20 and now holds over 188,000 ETH worth $457.4 million.

SharpLink said it sold 2.54 million shares to raise $27.7 million, with the majority of the proceeds being used to bolster its ETH investment.

It added that as of Friday, it had staked all of its ETH holdings, generating 120 ETH worth $293,000.

SharpLink’s board chairman, Joseph Lubin, a co-founder of Ethereum, said that increasing the company’s ETH holdings would create “long-term value for our stockholders.” 

In May, SharpLink raised $425 million for its ETH buying plan and appointed Lubin to chair its board of directors.

On June 13, SharpLink acquired $463 million worth of ETH, which made it the publicly traded company with the largest ETH holdings.

Stock price surges

Shares in SharpLink (SBET) rallied more than 7% by the close of Tuesday’s trading session to $9.66. The stock also gained 1.14% after the bell and ended the after-hours session at $9.77, according to Google Finance.

Despite the recent rally, SharpLink’s stock is down more than 87% after it reached $79.21 on May 29.

Related: Sharplink Gaming drops 73% amid looming $1B Ethereum buy 

During the quarter ended March 2025, the company reported its net revenue declined by 24% year-on-year, while its net profit margin fell sharply by 110% during the same period.

Institutions flocking to ETH

Institutional demand for ETH has been on the rise in recent weeks.

On Monday, large Ether holders initiated leveraged long positions on the cryptocurrency despite market volatility from the Israel-Iran war. A single whale initiated a $101 million long position with a 25x leverage.

Another whale accumulated $39 million worth of ETH on Sunday, with their ETH holding now exceeding $300 million.

Last week, it was reported that more than 35 million Ether tokens have been staked, which amounts to more than 28% of the total supply of ETH being locked in smart contracts to earn staking rewards.

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